Rooster Recap: “Sleepy Hollow” Episode 7: The Midnight Ride

$10 says this episode is about how Ichabod Crane and Paul Revere are best friends. Within mere frames of the recap I am proven correctly. Prepare for the latest inundation of history and the supernatural! If they’re going to do this show for seven years/seasons, I wonder what they’ll do after they run out of well-known American history. Maybe Americans will actually learn something about their country’s history. MAYBE THAT’S THE POINT OF THE SHOW. Plot twist! Sleepy Hollow is educational!

The more you know!

Oh, the actual plot twist is that the ‘regulars’ are coming, not the British. Unless that was slang I’m not aware of. I’m already learning! Unless of course, ‘regulars’ refers to Hessians. Also, Paul Revere, I know horse riding is noisy, but you didn’t hear your friends get axed off their horses? Later on in the episode, Ichabod clarifies that, at the time, everyone was basically British, so it made more sense to say the ‘regulars’. See? I did learn something.

R’uh r’oh. Abbie’s ex-flame Morales is being stalked by shadowy figures. Oh heyyyy it’s zombie Brooks! I don’t think we’ve seen him since episode 2? But…he wants to protect Abbie, because she’s chosen? And there are other zombies? Ugh. One loose end tied up reveals several other loose ends.

Also, I…I know it’s the hopelessly romantic lady parts of me that still find Ichabod’s modern day bumblings adorable, seriously. That voicemail. So cute. It might also be my penchant for long-locked men…that definitely helps.

Quick, Ichabod! There’s trouble at the Masonic mansion! Grab a sword! Oh, actually, the Headless Horseman is now stealing Masonic noggins. Creepy. And all this before the credits roll!

Alright, color me a little confused. So, the Headless Horseman, or, Death for short, rose once to retrieve his head. He failed, and the head moved into evidence. Days, or possibly weeks later, he rises again, only to be separated from Ichabod. He still seeks his head, at which point he’ll be able to summon the other horsemen. For this reason, he slaughters the Masonic brothers, seeking the head. The head is being examined in a weird lab by a weird guy (scientists in Hollywood are always eccentric). It has been ‘scrubbed of DNA’ which is…y’know. Odd. Because…it’s still a head with skin. And DNA makes up like, y’know, a lot of stuff. I don’t quite understand the logic here, but, sure. Then the Horseman finds the head, at the Fishing/Wildlife center, where the lab is. How does he know? The Lodge was a guess. If he’s intrinsically linked to his own head, why didn’t he find it sooner? You can’t just make up plot, you guys!

Cue hilarious montage of them trying to destroy the skull. The amount of times that people handle decapitated heads with their BARE HANDS is ridiculous. Abbie should know better than to touch evidence with her bare hands. Although she’s also cool enough to get cell signal in some sewage tunnels. Nifty.

GLOVES, WOMAN!

I love mystery. I enjoy the heck out of Indiana Jones/National Treasure style questing, and I also love when Sleepy Hollow goes all “DaVinci Code” on us. Puzzle solving and clues and secrets, that’s the fun stuff. Please do more, kthnxbai. That being said, ‘Cicero’ gives me weird Skyrim flashbacks.

I also love when Ichabod is wrong, as in the case of Thomas Jefferson. That banter is delightful, so, if we could have more of that sort of interaction, it would be great. The history was very one-sided for the last couple of episodes, and I’ve whined about it before. I like the even-ness of experience v. technical prowess. I also like the noise the horse makes. It’s a good middle ground between horse and screaming. I’m also glad they seem to have nixed the red eyes.

Alright…after the success of last week’s episode, and the good parts of this week…I’m starting to come around. So far I’m happy with the final 20 minutes of each episode. I think it’s really starting to come into its own as a show. Some shows don’t do that until the second season, so really, we’re ahead of schedule.

I really could deal without the psuedo-science and the half-baked logic though.